McMillan v. Iserman
Court of Appeals of Michigan
327 N.W.2d 559 (1982)
Iserman (defendant) leased subdivision property to construct and operate a residential care facility, a use permitted under the deed restrictions in place at the time. Subdivision owners later voted to amend the restrictions to ban group residential facilities entirely. McMillan (plaintiff), another property owner in the subdivision, sued claiming Iserman's planned use breached the amended restrictions. The trial court instead invalidated the amendment on equal-protection grounds and granted summary judgment for Iserman; McMillan appealed, and Iserman cross-appealed the trial court's public-policy and retroactivity rulings.
Whether, under Michigan law, an amendment to deed restrictions applies to a property owner who reasonably relied on the restrictions in effect when the owner took title, has dedicated the property to a use the amendment now prohibits, and would be injured by enforcing the amendment.